They were fake. It would be extremely difficult on most streets and impossible in virtually all tower blocks to triangulate an exact location to a single house/flat.
And the design was ridiculous. A working detector doesn't need to look anything like an aerial stuck on top of a minivan.
And the only record of them being used in a prosecution is for optical detection of combined RGB. Plus some handwaving. Not RF.
So they were pretty much a psy-op.
It's relevant that the license fee collectors - who belong to Capita, one of those curious quasi-private-with-state-support companies that buzz around the British government like flies - rely almost entirely on self-incrimination for prosecutions.
Thank you. Just last year or so there was an article linked on HN that investigated on this. And it turned out to be all fake. There was some sort of prototype that actually worked, but the range was so limited and localization was not possible at all ... it simply wasn't practical for any use. As the funding was somewhat public and news picked up on that, the myth was spreading and they made these fake vans with scary antennas and went on their scare-/psy-ops. News picked up on that again and word quickly spread all around. IIRC there was even some exhibit linked in the article that had various builds of these fake-vans. Of course everything was only props. The real deal simply only existed in people's heads. Plus there isn't any working hardware from that era to be found nowadays anywhere anyway. As the conspiracy theory goes on, that's apparently because it was all destroyed by BBC after the act. If you ask those people about all the other countries that had this apparently going on about where the remains of the equipment are nowadays you get a ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ at best.
So the linked articles in actual post office electrical engineering journals from the time, over several decades, including detailed calculations and implementation details were also fake?
Plus they managed to somehow infiltrate a fake freedom of information request detailing a BBC application for a warrant based on TV detection, and internal documents detailing the operation of the relevant department and its legal basis of operation, into the whatdotheyknow FOI requests archive?
It seems unlikely, especially for varied forms of evidence over such a long period.
And the design was ridiculous. A working detector doesn't need to look anything like an aerial stuck on top of a minivan.
And the only record of them being used in a prosecution is for optical detection of combined RGB. Plus some handwaving. Not RF.
So they were pretty much a psy-op.
It's relevant that the license fee collectors - who belong to Capita, one of those curious quasi-private-with-state-support companies that buzz around the British government like flies - rely almost entirely on self-incrimination for prosecutions.